


you let my heart breathe with ease

by guidingmoon



Category: LOONA (Korea Band)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-08
Updated: 2019-03-08
Packaged: 2019-11-07 05:36:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,659
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17954564
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/guidingmoon/pseuds/guidingmoon
Summary: Jungeun usually hates museums, but now she finds herself visiting the local one all the time. It's totally not because one of the workers is ridiculously attractive.





	you let my heart breathe with ease

**Author's Note:**

> I really don't know what this is, but it was inspired by the fact that I saw a cute girl in a museum.

Jungeun doesn't normally get lost. 

Today is an exception. She has an assignment due in five hours and the power is down in her apartment, hence why she's scouring the nearby streets in search of somewhere with wifi. Her best friend and flatmate Jinsol told her to go to the local library, which supposedly is only situated ten minutes away from their apartment. However, Jungeun's never been there before and her phone is out of battery. 

So she ends up in a museum by mistake. To be fair, it looks very similar to a library on the outside. It's only when Jungeun finds herself standing in a massive foyer looking up at a dinosaur fossil that she realises she definitely has the wrong place. 

Jungeun's never been a fan of museums. One of her worst childhood memories revolves around being accidentally left behind by her parents at a museum when she was 7 years old. Ever since then, Jungeun's avoided museums as much as possible. Though she's tempted to leave straight away, Jungeun decides to ask someone at the information desk where the library is. She knows it must be close by. 

She approaches the desk, standing there awkwardly for a couple of minutes as there's no member of staff on duty. Just as she's about to give up and ask for directions elsewhere, she hears scurried footsteps behind her and an apology being muttered. Jungeun catches a glimpse of a girl with short dark hair, carrying an enormous stack of papers.

"What can I help you with?" the girl asks, setting the pile of paper down on the desk beside the computer. 

Jungeun's breath hitches as she meets the girl's eyes. She's absolutely stunning. Usually, Jungeun is pretty good at keeping her composure around pretty girls, usually being the one to make them flustered. However, this time the tables have turned. 

Perplexed at the lack of response, the girl fixes Jungeun with an expectant gaze and drums her fingers against the desk. 

That rouses Jungeun out of her daze. She clears her throat, embarrassed. "I was trying to find the library but I don't know where it is," she says. "Do you have a map?" 

"You won't need a map, it's not far away," the girl replies cheerily. "All you need to do is turn left when you leave the museum and it's a few crossings down the street."

Jungeun gives her a warm smile. "You saved my life," she says. When the girl looks at her, puzzled, Jungeun chuckles. "I have an essay due soon and there's no power at my apartment. So thank you..." she peers at the girl's name tag. "Haseul. That's a pretty name."

"Thank you," Haseul says, her eyes crinkling as she smiles. Jungeun thinks it's the cutest thing she's ever seen. "Where do you live?" Haseul asks suddenly. 

"Like ten minutes away," Jungeun answers, a little confused. She's not sure why that's a matter of interest. 

Haseul raises an eyebrow in amusement. "So you've never been to the library before even though you live here?" 

Jungeun purses her lips, fighting a smile. "Yeah, it's kind of crazy," she admits. "I always do my work on campus or back home, so I've never needed to go to the city library."

"That's fair," Haseul says. "What year are you in?" 

"This is my final year," Jungeun replies. She realizes she no longer wants to get out of the museum as fast as possible; she's enjoying the conversation. 

"Oh, I guess you're not much younger than me," Haseul grins. "I graduated just under two years ago."

That sparks Jungeun's interest even more. "What did you study?" 

Haseul pulls a face. "Nothing interesting to be honest," she says. "I wanted to do music, but I ended up taking History instead. It got me the job here, so at least my degree was useful for something."

"If you like music, you should try getting into it," Jungeun says enthusiastically. "My friend Jiwoo is taking music, and she's completely in love with the course. You don't even have to study it, you could just do lessons or something."

A sad look passes over Haseul's face. "I used to do vocal training, but I don't really have time for it anymore," she explains. "You have a good point, though. Maybe I should get back into it."

Jungeun grins at her. Before she can reply, another member of staff appears at the desk next to Haseul and interrupts the conversation, rattling off a series of instructions about an incoming tour group. Jungeun guesses that's her cue to go; she needs to get the library soon anyway, so it's probably a good thing they were interrupted.

Haseul looks over at Jungeun. "I've got to sort this out," she says apologetically, scooping up a few documents from the desk hurriedly.

Nodding, Jungeun starts to head off. Before she can leave, Jungeun feels a hand on her arm, keeping her back. She turns back to see Haseul holding out a folded piece of paper. Tentatively, she takes it.

"You should come by here again," Haseul says. "Otherwise..." she gestures to the paper in Jungeun's hand. "I'll see you." She shoots Jungeun a dazzling smile.

Managing a smile in return, Jungeun leaves the museum in a haze, staring down at the parting gift from Haseul. She's too stunned to see what's written inside. It's only once she's found the library and settled down at a table that she finally brings herself to open the scrap of paper. When she sees a number written there, with Haseul's signature underneath, Jungeun nearly lets out a scream. She calms herself down, trying not to overthink things. However, the heart and kisses that accompany Haseul's name make it hard not to jump to conclusions.

Jungeun scrambles to find a charging point for her phone. She  _needs_ to tell Jinsol about this immediately.

 

 —

 

Sometimes Jungeun can't stand her friends. Sure, they're great, no doubt about it. They also seem to have a knack for being the loudest and most irritating people she's ever met. 

Take Jiwoo for example. She's the sweetest girl on earth, eternally bubbly and charismatic. Having known her since middle school, Jungeun is well attuned to all of Jiwoo's habits. Her most infuriating habit is her tendency to bombard Jungeun with questions whenever she meets a girl. No matter whether Jungeun's interested in them or not, Jiwoo always makes it her mission to find out as many details as possible about Jungeun's encounters. 

Hence why Jungeun can't finish her gomtang at the restaurant they're at, a special occasion in celebration of Jiwoo's recital results. They're out with several other girls from Jiwoo's course, all of whom achieved outstanding grades as well. Luckily, Jiwoo is good friends with them and Jungeun knows them reasonably well, so it isn't awkward. 

It's been a few days since Jungeun met Haseul at the museum, but it's hard to shake the girl out of her mind. Earlier in the evening, during starters, Jungeun made the mistake of mentioning her conversation with Haseul to Jiwoo. Rather than dropping the topic after a few minutes, as one would usually do, Jiwoo has taken great pride in bringing the subject up multiple times throughout the evening. 

Jungeun is dying to finish off her main course, but Jiwoo insists that she should tell the whole table about her dating history. Reluctantly, Jungeun goes along with the request. 

"So the last girl you dated was Lee Naeun, right?" Yoojung asks. She looks genuinely invested in Jungeun's stories, as do the rest of the girls sitting at the table. Jungeun recalls a conversation she had with Jiwoo a couple of months back in which Jiwoo revealed that most of her friends had disclosed to her that they would date Jungeun given the chance. Now she's regretting coming along to this outing. 

After a sharp nudge from Jiwoo, prompting her to respond, Jungeun gives Yoojung a nod. 

"Wait, I thought you had a girlfriend now," Yeri chimes in. 

Jiwoo smacks her on the arm lightly. "No, Jungeun isn't dating anyone," she says, much to the delight of many of the girls. Jungeun notices the sly looks being shared across the table, but she acts oblivious. 

"This Haseul girl, though..." Yeoreum says, pensive. "She sounds nice."

"Maybe we should all go to the museum and see if we can find a girlfriend that way," Joowon quips. Everyone chuckles. 

"We're not girlfriends," Jungeun says, rolling her eyes at them. "I barely even had a whole conversation with her."

Yeri gives her an evil grin. "You're basically in love with her already," she says, knowing that it will rile Jungeun up. 

"Jiwoo, a little help here?" Jungeun shoots her a desperate look. 

"Not my problem," Jiwoo says cheekily, turning back to her side conversation with Yoojung. 

Jungeun huffs and crosses her arms in defeat. She refused to meet Yeri's taunting gaze, opting to stare down at her now empty plate. Though she knows the girls are just joking around, her mind can't help but wander back to her encounter with Haseul.

It takes her all of ten seconds to make up her mind: she's going to visit the museum again. 

 

  —

 

Jungeun goes to the museum a few days later, in the middle of the week. This time she doesn't have an assignment to complete in mere hours; instead she comes armed with a sketchbook and a set of graphite pencils. She's no artist, not by any stretch of the imagination, but she thinks she'll be able to pull this plan off. It all revolves around keeping up a pretence that she has a project for a class, involving sketches of the exhibitions. 

When she gets to the museum, Jungeun feels nerves settling in the pit of her stomach. She doesn't even know if Haseul's on shift today, but there would be no way of checking unless she could bring herself to text Haseul and ask about her schedule. Considering as she's too shy to even send a simple 'hi', Jungeun knows there's no way she would have plucked up the courage to ask Haseul when she works. Another issue is that Jungeun has no clue of which exhibitions are actually free; she has no intention of paying to get in to one that she has no interest in. The problem with making up a false sketching project is that she's essentially going to have to lie about what course she's taking. Lying to Haseul isn't a prospect that she likes very much. 

Luck is on Jungeun's side today. Once she steps foot in the main foyer, she gets a good view of the information desk and immediately she sees Haseul standing there, talking to a family of four. 

Jungeun tries to calm her nerves, and takes slow steps towards the desk. She tries to seem as casual as possible, at the same time avoiding looking at Haseul. She hangs back a bit behind the family, not wanting to disturb them. 

Soon enough, they clear off and Jungeun's face-to-face with Haseul. 

Haseul breaks out into a wide smile at the sight of her. "You came back!" she exclaims, looking delighted. "I'm surprised, seeing as you never texted me."

"About that," Jungeun starts sheepishly, tucking her hair behind her ear. "I meant to text you, but I sort of just-" 

"Didn't have the time?" Haseul says, coming up with excuses for her. "I totally get that, you must be really busy with university and everything. It's no problem at all."

Jungeun frowns. "It's actually because I didn't know what to say, but I guess that's a factor too," she admits. Right after she says it, she mentally curses herself for giving herself away so easily. Usually she makes it hard for people to read her, but around Haseul she doesn't have the same ability to hide her emotions. 

"That's cute," Haseul says. "So, are you here just to see me, or do you need help finding the library again?" 

"I know where the library is now," Jungeun counters. "I came here to look around the exhibitions, I have a project I need to research."

Haseul looks at her curiously. "Any exhibition in particular?" she asks. "I'll give you a map and you can find the right one. If I could, I'd show you around but I'm forced to stay at this desk, so maybe another time."

"Sure, that's totally fine," Jungeun grins. "I'll just grab a map for now." Reaching into her pocket, she fishes around for the right change and drops it into Haseul's open palm. 

"Hey, one thing before you go," Haseul says. "Just in case I don't see you later on today, make sure to text me soon, yeah? It would be nice to hear from you." 

"I will," Jungeun promises, taking the map that Haseul's holding out for her. She's about to leave when Haseul stops her again.

"You know, I didn't get your name last time," Haseul says. "Since you already know mine, it's only fair, right? 

Jungeun laughs. "It's Jungeun," she replies. 

"Pretty name," Haseul compliments, echoing what Jungeun said to her when they first met. "Well, see you, Jungeun." She sends Jungeun a wink as she's walking away. 

Though she doesn't see Haseul again that day, Jungeun doesn't forgo her promise. When she's lying in bed that night, she types out a quick message to Haseul. 

_Hey, this is Jungeun. Anything interesting happen at the museum yesterday?_

It's past her usual bed time, so Jungeun falls asleep before Haseul replies, but she wakes up in the morning to see a string of messages from Haseul about an early morning shift at the museum, and it puts a smile on her face. 

Maybe Yeri was right after all. 

 

 —

 

Usually when Jungeun visits the museum, she's by herself. Every time, she always goes to the information desk first, to see Haseul. They've been texting back and forth pretty regularly, and Jungeun knows Haseul's shift patterns pretty well. Similarly, Haseul's learnt Jungeun's university schedule off-by-heart. It's been a couple of months since they first met, and their dynamic is still as good as ever. Haseul would be lying if she didn't say that the highlight of her week is Jungeun visiting. 

On one such day, Haseul's sat at the desk, thumbing through a new brochure that the museum's planning to roll out in the coming weeks. It's a Friday afternoon, but surprisingly the place isn't busy. Only a couple of school groups have passed through, and there aren't many families strolling around. Haseul is uncharacteristically bored, but she's soon put out of her misery when she looks up from the brochure to see Jungeun walking towards her. 

Interestingly, she's accompanied by three girls. One of them is bouncing up and down excitedly, tugging on Jungeun's arm. Next to them, a blonde and a brunette walk close together, whispering to each other. Haseul guesses that they must all be good friends with Jungeun, given how she talks animatedly to them.

The friend that's clinging to Jungeun keeps trying to drag her off to look at all the glass cases that line the walls. Haseul doesn't even have to try and eavesdrop, she can hear them clearly from across the room.

"Jiwoo, stop!" Jungeun says loudly, trying to shake her friend off. Even from afar, Haseul can tell the two of them are just being playful, but she's still worried that it will escalate into something more if they're not careful.

The blonde girl locks eyes with Haseul, who hurriedly averts her gaze and acts as if she hasn't been watching them this entire time. 

Much to Haseul's dismay, the blonde girl breaks out into a smile and saunters over to the desk, her friend following her. Haseul readies herself. She rakes her memory, trying to remember all the names of Jungeun's friends that she's been told about. She comes to the conclusion that this girl must be Jinsol, and the tall brunette by her side is probably Sooyoung. Haseul doesn't know much about them, but she knows just enough.

The blonde girl reaches the desk and leans against it, fixing Haseul with a fairly flirtatious look. She'sstunning, and perhaps in another situation, Haseul would jump at the chance to flirt with her, but in this world she's got feelings for Jungeun, so that's not going to happen any time soon. 

"Can I help you with anything?" Haseul asks her, with a warm smile. She holds back on asking about Jungeun, figuring that they'll get to that topic later. 

"Yeah, I was wondering which exhibitions are free?" Jinsol grins. Her voice is soft and low, and her smile is ridiculously enchanting. Haseul can see why Jungeun had a crush on Jinsol when they first met. She doesn't dare look at Sooyoung for more than a few seconds, because she's gorgeous as well. It seems like all of Jungeun's friends are unfairly attractive.

Haseul slides a guide book onto the table and flicks to the right spread. "The ones marked in green are free and the ones in red require payment," she says, rattling off the information with ease. "If you want my opinion, the only ticketed exhibition worth seeing is the sea creatures one. I'm sure you guys would like it." She's quite proud of herself for remembering that Jinsol likes sea animals. 

"I love sea animals!" Jinsol says happily. She leans into Sooyoung, who wraps an arm around her waist and gazes at Jinsol with a fond smile. 

"We should introduce ourselves," Jinsol says, straightening up. She offers her hand to Haseul, who shakes it. "I'm Jinsol, and this is my girlfriend, Sooyoung."

Haseul's relieved she didn't try and flirt with Jinsol after all. That would have been embarrassing. She smiles awkwardly at the pair.

Strangely, Sooyoung seems to read her mind. "Don't worry, Jinsol flirts with pretty girls all the time," she says, smirking at Haseul. "I'm just as bad as her, though. We have a bet going to see how many girls' numbers we can each get. It's just for fun."

"I'm in the lead," Jinsol says smugly.

Sooyoung leans over the desk, throwing her hair over her shoulder. "If you give me your number, then she won't be winning anymore," she says, whispering in a conspiratorial manner. "I'll give you something in return."

Blushing, Haseul lets out an awkward laugh. "Actually, I-"

"Guys, what are you doing?" Jungeun cuts in. None of them even noticed her and Jiwoo come up to the desk. "Leave Haseul alone, she doesn't need to give you her number."

Jinsol whips around, looking at Jungeun suspiciously. "You know her?" she asks. "I thought you said this was your first time here."

"Yeah, you hate museums!" Sooyoung says.

Haseul furrows her brows at Jungeun, who turns her eyes to inspect the floor. 

Jiwoo swoops in to save the day. "Remember when Jungeun got lost and couldn't find the library?" she says. The others nod. "She ended up here by accident."

"Oh, right," Jinsol says. She looks a little disappointed. "Sorry about that, Haseul. If we made you uncomfortable or anything-" 

"No, it's okay, it was just unexpected," Haseul says hastily. "I mean, I've never met a couple who flirt with other people so openly."

Sooyoung laughs at her comment. "I don't blame you," she says. 

"Let's go see the sea creatures," Jinsol says excitedly, tugging on Sooyoung's arm. She makes sure to wave at Haseul before skipping off with her girlfriend in tow. 

That leaves Haseul with a thoroughly embarrassed Jungeun and an exuberant Jiwoo, whispering into her friend's ear. Haseul watches them, amused. 

Eventually, Jiwoo stops whispering and shoots Haseul a friendly wink. "Nice to meet you, Haseul," she grins. Then she lets go of Jungeun's arm and takes a few steps away from the desk, humming to herself. 

Jungeun still doesn't lift her eyes to meet Haseul's. 

"You hate museums, huh?" Haseul's sporting a mischievous grin, which Jungeun finally registers once she musters up the courage to look up from the floor. "I would never have guessed."

Jungeun flushes at the comment. "Look, it's kind of complicated. I don't  _hate_ them. I mean, I used to, but it's different now."

"Why is that?" Haseul queries. She's enjoying this way too much.

Nervous, Jungeun tugs at the hem of her sleeve. "Most museums don't have people like you working there," she says quietly. Haseul's never seen her this shy before. She thinks it's adorable when Jungeun's acting like this.

"It's pretty funny, you have to admit," Haseul says with a chuckle. "I mean, you've been here how many times? Like ten maybe?"

Still toying with her sleeve, Jungeun mutters, "Actually, it's twelve times."

Haseul bites her lip to hold back her smirk. "That's pretty impressive for someone who doesn't like museums," she says, taking note of how Jungeun blushes even deeper. "You know, considering that this is your least favorite place, maybe we could go somewhere else at some point. So that we can spend time together in a place you actually enjoy."

Jungeun looks at her, mouth slightly agape. "Do you mean just like-"

"I mean as a date," Haseul says. "Anywhere you want to go."

At a loss for words, Jungeun breaks out into a grin. "That would be really nice," she says. "You know, I'm fine with pretty much anywhere. Even a museum."

Haseul laughs, her eyes twinkling. "I think we should avoid that just to be on the safe side, but it's good to know that you're up for anything."

Jiwoo calls out to Jungeun from a few metres away, gesturing towards where Jinsol and Sooyoung disappeared to. 

"You should get going," Haseul encourages, waving her hands in a shooing motion. "Come back here once you guys are done, and we can sort out a time for our date, yeah?"

Jungeun nods enthusiastically. "I'll see you soon."

**Author's Note:**

> [my twitter](https://twitter.com/chuulipseuls)


End file.
